


Poems

by Ariel_Tempest



Category: Downton Abbey
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-14
Updated: 2017-07-14
Packaged: 2018-12-02 06:34:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11503767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ariel_Tempest/pseuds/Ariel_Tempest
Summary: A collection of poems by the Sketch's most mysterious poet: Sophoronia Gordon.





	1. Forward

**Author's Note:**

> This is a collection of poems I wrote to get a feel for what sort of poetry Peter Pelham might have written. I've presented it in a sort of "biographical" format for amusement sake, and am leaving the number of chapters open since I never know when I will write more.
> 
> There will eventually be fiction to go along with these. Heaven knows when, but it will happen.
> 
> I am not a poet by habit and anything I post here may find itself subject to spontaneous revision as my poet friends get their hands on it. Therefore, if there's a version you particularly like, I recommend downloading it now, because while I will not post anything that hasn't been revised to the point I'm happy with it, there's always room for improvement, isn't there?

_1926_

Edith Pelham ne Cralwey, editor of the Sketch, moved to Brancaster castle with her husband Herbert "Bertie" Pelham, ward Marigold Crawley, and her cousin-by-marriage, Peter Pelham, the sixth Marquess of Hexham.

Not long after this, Sophoronia Gordon published her first poem in the Sketch. As with many new artists, the work was not wildly recieved, but did gain some small acclaim from the publication's readers. It was, perhaps, not quite enough to explain how quickly miss Gordon became a fixture in the magazine. 

In under a year she had ten poems published. 

Soon readers were looking foraward to her poems not as much for their own merit, but because of the tantalizing mystery she presented.

She published exclusively in the Sketch and nowhere else.

No one seemed to know her personally. Even the magazine staff, when asked, claimed never to have seen her.

Readers pulled her poems apart, looking for hints at her true identity in every line. A net full of red herrings, whether planted deliberately or not, lead the would-be Lady Peroits of England on a merry chase. At least a dozen of the nation's leading ladies claimed to know her personally, but they weren't about to spoil the secret.

The ones who did know; the ones who saw the real clues plain as day without the aid of a magnifying glass; the ones who could tell you that it was not coincidence that these poems appeared after Edith's introduction to Lord Hexham, did not claim anything. 

The following are a selection of miss Gordon's poems. Not all have been published in the Sketch and those that have are not in any particular order.


	2. Tangiers

The market is a deliciously violent storm  
Of dust and spice; of bleating goats and kaleidoscope colours  
Dancing to the beat of strings and drums  
Swirling about until I can not breathe  
And might drown in the life

Between the sea and the sand life is sustained  
By sweet juice and fresh water  
And warm, welcoming syrup  
Brought from the far reaches of the Orient  
And mingling with crisp spears of Morocco

The edge of the sky catches fire  
Scattering red and gold across the clouds  
Making silhouettes of the fisher boys bringing in their catch  
Hovering on the edge of the world for a moment

A heartbeat

And then everything goes dark


	3. Winter

The edge of the lake is still  
Cast in black and white on the silver screen  
Orchestrated by   
Fieldfare  
And broken rushes

Colour seeps through   
The frozen frame  
Just a spot  
Startling pink  
Barely visible under a mantle of white

A bleeding heart   
Awake in this season of sleep  
Petals peeling back from the center  
I wrap my finger around it  
To keep it warm


End file.
